In logistics, a lot of valuable time is lost by manually entering unstructured data into systems, especially in the area of full and partial loads. A delivery receipt here, a note with information regarding a telephone order there – it all adds up. The problem is that this process is not only time-consuming and therefore cost-intensive, but also prone to errors, not to mention the fact that it causes frustration among employees. However, if the financial cost of creating a digital interface is too high, there is no other solution – right? Wrong! An AI printer that allows simple electronic data interchange (EDI) is the perfect addition to order management systems and provides a much-needed remedy at precisely this point.
With order management software (OMS), the name says it all: it is a tool for managing orders. The basic idea is to not view individual processes that are directly related to each other in isolation, but to integrate them into an automated process. Order management systems are therefore important for logistics companies in order to centralise and simplify the management of customer orders. With order management, all tasks, from order acceptance to fulfilment, can be performed more efficiently. This works as follows:
If master data and templates are stored in the application, customers can generate new orders in seconds and transmit them to the haulage company. The solution also supports the processing of orders: For example, it reads data from tables and transfers it to the system, generates labels for the packages and generally enables early resource planning. This all works via an EDI connection: For this purpose, interfaces are usually created between the customer's IT system and the haulage company's TMS (Transport Management System). This makes collaboration between transport companies and customers much easier.
Whoever thinks: “What’s so bad about entering a few orders manually? Isn’t that what we used to do?”, has probably never spent a whole day picking out individual pieces of information and painstakingly putting them into a structured format.
Efficiency and competitiveness fall by the wayside if employee resources are tied up day after day with monotonous and error-prone tasks such as manual data transfer. While digital interfaces or other solutions transfer data in real time, analogue data capture naturally leads to delays. This makes the order management process much more time-consuming and error-prone and also delays all subsequent steps.
Logistics processes are enormously complex: a large number of people and companies are involved, often using different systems and formats. A lot of data has to be passed on to everyone involved so that it is clear which step comes next. Digital interfaces can generally help here, but they are often only profitable if the order volume is high enough – if this is not the case, manual data entry is once again used as a bridge between different systems.
Many logistics companies currently use OCR software as a solution for those customers with whom there is no EDI connection (i.e. an interface), for example because it would not be profitable due to the low order volume. We will now show you exactly what this means and why this process could be improved.
The basic principle of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software is that it recognises and extracts printed or handwritten text from images and documents. This transforms scans or other digital documents into text that can be read by machines through pattern recognition and text capture. The problem: OCR tools often have difficulties with complex layouts, handwriting that is hard to read or poor image quality. In addition, someone first has to painstakingly teach the software and mask each document so that the information is assigned to the correct fields.
The Print2EDI principle therefore goes far beyond pure text recognition and offers the perfect solution: by using artificial intelligence, the solution not only recognises text elements, but is also able to understand the context and structure of documents.
The great advantage of supplementing the normal order management system with artificial intelligence is that nobody has to enter data manually any more, not even for smaller order volumes – it can all be automated. A virtual printer is installed for this purpose, which reads the documents, extracts and structures the data and transfers it to the appropriate system and format.
The idea behind this solution is that no matter which system is used, they all have a “print” function. Once the AI printer has been installed (which is much faster than with a normal printer), PDFs, scanned receipts, memos, in short: any documents are “printed digitally” and processed automatically – in real time. The same happens with emails that are forwarded to a special AI email address. Handwritten notes are also recognised without any problems.
The solution works context-sensitively and does not require any extra training. Still have some fixed rules that need to be observed? No problem: with simple “if-then rules”, these systems can be perfectly customised to the needs of the respective company. It is ideal if customers are also connected directly to the solution and thus transfer the data straight into the system. This is done quickly: In contrast to implementing digital interfaces, it takes less than 30 seconds to install the Print2EDI printer.
The advantages of AI-supported order management at a glance:
Logistics and EDI – they absolutely belong together, even if the implementation of a digital interface is not worthwhile. After all, electronic data exchange can also take place via other channels. Thanks to Print2EDI, any documents whose information needs to be converted into structured data and entered into the system can simply be forwarded to the AI printer.
The solution is minimally invasive, cost-effective and also takes existing working methods into account. For example, it can easily be used as a supplement to regular order management. With the help of AI and EDI, freight forwarders can automatically analyse data from PDF files and transfer it to their systems. Paper documents and unstructured data that have to be manually entered into systems are now a thing of the past.
Add a comment